Adventure and Photography – Passion for the Outdoors

Ingøya – a summer island paradise

After completing the road to Havøysund we extended the trip by taking a ferry to Ingøya further north in the Arctic Ocean. My younger brother and his family had invited us to join them for a trip to their summer vacation home and we were thrilled to experience this arctic island in the Barents Sea.

Fishing tourism at Ingøya

Ingøya has history back to the 14th century as a fishing village, back then it was actually called a ‘city’. Today the island is sparsely populated. During summer there is an increase in the population as many of the descendants from the islanders have vacation homes on the island, as well as an increase in fishing tourism along the coast of Finnmark.

Cloudberries

Worth mentioning if you are planning a trip to Ingøy is that the ferry traffic is limited with one daily arrival so you must expect to spend the night. Accommodation is limited and should be booked in advance. The ferry has no ramp so if you want to bring your car it will be lifted off the ferry in a special car net, we left the car in Havøysund. The island is less than 20 square kilometers and a car is strictly not needed.

View of Fruholmen lighthouse in the far distance

On Ingøya you will find Fruholmen Lighthouse, said to be the northernmost lighthouse. It sits om Fruholmen island, a small island only 350 meter long and 300 meters wide. It was lit in 1866 and was manned until 2006 when it was automated. The lighthouse was victim to the scorched earth tactic during WWII and the lighthouse you will find here today was rebuilt after the war.

I always think it is interesting to learn about those who lived and manned the lighthouses along our long coastline. Who where they and how must their life have been? I managed to find some history from the start of Fruholmen Lighthouse in 1866 and have loosely translated parts of it to english:

A lighthouse keeper and his assistance was running the lighthouse. They had their families with them and after some time at the island they both had 5 kids each. The wives struggled with the daily chores. They had to collected rain water as there was no water source on the island. During winter they could melt snow, but that was costly. The weather was harsh this far north in the arctic and it could be more than 6 months before they had the chance to visit the store on the mainland. But they had animals on the island to help keep them with milk and meat.

Ingøya fishing community

In addition to picking all the cloudberries we could eat we did some sightseeing on the island. We hiked up the Ingøy mountain. and from there we had a 360 degree view and could see Fruholmen Lighthouse, Ingøy fishing community and all the way to the wind mills on the mainland at Havøysund. We also hiked to Sanden nature reserve where we had hundreds of meters of beach all to ourselves. The beach was like a treasure chest full of sea shell in different shapes and forms.

Sanden nature reserve

Ingøya is the perfect summer paradise where you can get away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Relax, hike, go berry picking, fishing or just read a book on the porch. Oh – and don’t remember to go for apple cake and waffles at the local cafe which is open a couple of hours every day. That is where you’ll meet the locals.

Thank you so much for the comment! Cloudberries are native the arctic tundra, we call them ‘the gold of the tundra’. People with spend hours and days picking them when they are ripe by end of August/beginning of September.

Great set, Inger…you guys live in and around a neat place. The cloub berries look amazing. The closet I’ve ever been to anything similiar in nature is the island of Newfoundland. U.S. Air Force, March 1964 to September 1965.

Thank you so much Dan! Was is cloudberries they had in Newfoundland or something that reminded of it? I remember they had something in Alaska they called Salmonberries that were also orange and looked a bit similar.

What a special place. And the light is perfect for photography, it seems like. What is the temperature there in summer? I love lighthouses. There are many along the New Zealand Coast and along the East Coast of the US as well. It is interesting to visit them and learn about the families who lived there. Now, some of these lighthouses are private houses.

This is far above the arctic circle so you don’t travel up here for the temperature..hehe… I guess it will vary between 10-25 degrees Celsius, but you could be surprised by colder (and warmer, but that doesn’t happen very often). This was pretty far out on the coast were you also have a cooler breeze from the ocean.

I too find lighthouses interesting, as you probably already figured from this post. There are lots of them along the coast of Norway so I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these are also private now.

Yes this is pretty far north – almost as far as you can get on the European continent. We were there in end of July/ beginning of August. Temperature was probably around 15C on average, with some warmer days and some cooler days. Happily the lighthouse is automated by now so none has to stay there over winter anymore! 🙂 But it is fascinating to think about how it must’ve been when the light keeper actually lived there.

I have no idea how to explain how a cloudberry tastes as for for they have always just tasted like cloudberries:) But – I did a quick google search and this is what other people say:
– sweet-sour apple flavour
– dry riesling wine that is a little too warm
– taste vaguely of gooseberries
– cross between a raspberry and a red currant
Not sure I agree with any if the above – I think you might just have to travel to the arctic to try one yourself! 🙂

By the way – your profile doesn’t link back to your blog so I always struggle finding back to it!

Thank you so much! This is far above the arctic circle so you can get any kind of weather. This was also very far out on the coast, on an island with nothing protecting from the colder winds. I guess you can expect temperatures between 10-25C in summer:)

Ah, what a fantastic place to get away. I enjoyed the history a lot, the village is intriguing, and the photos are proof of a heavenly place. I’ve never heard of cloud berries and liked that tidbit too. Delightful post and adventure, Inger.

Thank you so much for the lovely comment Jet! I do really enjoy the wild untouched arctic landscape. You have never heard of cloudberries? Then you should come up north and try them for yourself:) They are ripe for picking last half of August. We call them ‘highland gold’ or ‘gold of the tundra’.

Love this wonderful post and your insight. I never thought of how hard it would be to keep a lighthouse, but definitely not a job for the faint of heart. Thanks so much for following our blog, Oh, the Places We See. And best wishes for a great 2017!

Inger & Tor

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